Greek police to reopen hunt for long lost Ben

NEW dossiers could provide vital clues in the case of blond toddler Ben Needham who disappeared on the Greek island of Kos nearly 18 years ago.

PUBLISHED: PUBLISHED: 00:00, Sun, Apr 5, 2009

HOW HE MIGHT LOOK: A computer generated image of how Ben Needham might look now

Officials at the Greek Ministry of Justice and Interior have pledged to follow up any new leads in the case of Ben, who was just 21 months old when he vanished from outside a farmhouse in July 1991 while being looked after by his grandparents.

Despite numerous sightings , the fate of the toddler has remained a mystery but his mother Kerry has never given up hope of finding him and with the help of Euro MEP Edward McMillan-Scott she has compiled the file of new information being studied by the authorities.

Mr McMillan-Scott, who has campaigned on behalf of Gerry and Kate McCann for a European-wide ­missing child alert, says the new information is “compelling”.

The dossier claims the Kos police failed to question a woman seen in a white car around the time of Ben’s disappearance and that their investigations were flawed in other key areas. One file compiled by Mr McMillan-Scott is with the Greek ministry and Kerry is compiling a more detailed one for submission to the ministry in the next few weeks.

Mr McMillan-Scott said he felt confident the Greek authorities would have no choice but to reopen the investigation: “I think there is a very good chance indeed that the police will have to reopen the case.

“A car was seen on the day Ben disappeared containing certain ­individuals who have never been questioned by police. A least one of these individuals is still in Kos.

“It has been well documented that the police failed to search the port in time to stop Ben being taken off the island and that they thought Ben’s family were in some way responsible, which cost precious hours.

“The information about the white car is compelling and cannot be ignored. I feel confident the investigation has to be reopened.”

Kerry, 37, from Ecclesfield, ­Sheffield, who has made four suicide attempts since Ben disappeared, got in touch with the MEP after ­seeing him on television with the McCanns following the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine nearly two years ago in Portugal.

After being made aware by a former Kos police officer that a ­crucial witness had never been questioned and was still on the island, she approached the MEP for help four months ago.

She told the Sunday Express: “I want a new inquiry because Ben’s disappearance was never looked at properly. Island police officers did what they could at the time with the knowledge they had but they were used to dealing with petty tourist crimes.

“Detectives from Athens who may have had more experience were never drafted in. Information about Ben’s whereabouts was given by various people after Ben disappeared but none of the information ever led anywhere.

“Never a day goes by when I don’t think about Ben and I will keep on fighting.”

Kerry, who married fence builder Craig Grist in 2006 and has settled in Sheffield with Ben’s 15-year-old ­sister Leighanna, says she prays every day for his safe return.

Kerry was 19 when she took Ben to Kos in 1991 with her parents Eddie and Christine and brothers Stephen and Danny to find a new life after splitting up with Ben’s father Simon Ward. She left him in Sheffield and found work as a waitress in a hotel.

Eddie and Stephen also found work renovating an old farmhouse outside Kos town centre where the owner had told them they could live when the work was finished.

On July 24 Kerry had gone to work at the hotel and left Ben in the care of her parents. Eddie and Christine had let him play outside the near the front door of the farmhouse on a hot and sunny afternoon. Then suddenly they realised he had gone.

Police initially thought the toddler had been murdered but no body has ever been found, raising the likelihood that he was kidnapped by child traffickers, a theory that Kerry has clung to desperately.

Since Ben’s disappearance there have been more than 200 sightings of boys thought to be him.

In 1996, an anonymous millionaire posted a £530,000 reward for Ben’s safe return but that failed to elicit any significant information. Kerry’s family also offered a £105,000 reward for information.

In 2003 Ian Crosby, a private investigator, flew to Kos with Ben’s uncle Danny and said he believed the boy may have ended up in Scandinavia after being kidnapped to order.

Police have issued computer generated images of how Ben might look as an 18-year-old and his sister Leighanna was used in a TV ­reconstruction in Kos when she was 21 months old because at that age she and her brother were almost identical.

Comments Unavailable

Sorry, we are unable to accept comments about this article
at the moment. However, you will find some great articles
which you can comment on right now in our
Comment section.